Thomas Hoyt Bryant, Sr.

The graveside funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, February 8, 2019 at Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery with Rev. Jerry Harrell officiating. Michael Pelt, Randy Irving, Eddie Irving, Lee Hitson, Bill Hitson and Dan Bryant will serve as active pallbearers.

The family will receive friends from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 7, 2019 at Ivey Funeral Home. Online visitors may sign the guest register at www.iveyfuneral.com.

Thomas Hoyt Bryant, Sr. was born July 11, 1933 in Climax, GA, the son of John Hoyt Bryant and Ernie Rosena Kelley Bryant. He was a graduate of Climax High School and proudly served his country in the United States Navy. He married Sara Elizabeth "Betty" Hendricks in 1956 and they made their home in southwest Georgia. Hoyt retired from Southern Bell Telephone Company and was a member of Antioch Baptist Church.

Hoyt loved everything outside, the farm, the pond, the children playing, the garden and even dirt road riding. He was not one to mince words and would argue with a post. You had no doubt where he stood on any issue. If Hoyt liked you, he loved you. If he didn't, well, he just didn't. He loved to have all the family together and was known among the children as the "favorite uncle" because he guaranteed a good time. Hoyt had a sweet tooth especially for a milkshake or an Oreo. The older children remember "Uncle Hoyt" walking around with stacks of Oreos shelling them off like counting quarters. The table was a place where food was served, stories were told, laughter never stopped and the coffee was always hot.

Survivors include his son, Thomas H. "Tommy" Bryant, Jr. and his wife, Jennifer; his grandchildren, Jenny Bryant, Cory Bryant, Sammy Bryant, and Lexi Caldwell; his great-grandson, Augi Pelt; and his sisters, Sandra Bryant Copeland, Sharon Bryant Ingram and Brenda Bryant Hodges. In addition to his parents, Hoyt was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Betty H. Bryant; his son, David Keith Bryant; and his siblings, Alice B. Morton, Collen O. Bryant, John D. Bryant, Harry Calton Bryant and Richard A. Bryant.